Artemis's First Kiss
by Cassy J
Summary: Artemis Fowl gets his first kiss.


I groaned inwardly as the car pulled into a little lot right at the edge of the sand. Why did I have to come? After all, it wasn't _my _friend we were meeting. But when Father announced that an old friend was in town, Mother decided that it would be lovely to meet them at the beach, and why not make a family trip of it? Beckett and Myles were on board immediately, and despite my arguments that I was 15, far old enough to be home alone for a few hours, I was made to come as well. "Come on, Arty," Mother had pleaded with me, "The family hardly ever gets to spend any time together. Just come, it'll only be a few hours."

"There they are!" Father shouted, pointing a little ways down the beach.

Wait a second. They? I looked at the spot he was pointing to and was surprised to find not one person, as I was expecting, but three people: A middle-aged couple, one of whom must have been Father's friend, and a teenage girl, probably about my age. We got out of the car and began walking towards them. I was trudging at a slower pace, behind even Beckett and Myles, because I knew what was going to happen. Instead of being able to find a quiet spot on the beach to continue my studies as I had planned, my parents were surely going to make me be with this girl. And why not? Certainly it would appear that we would both have much more fun if we were with someone our own age, right? But it never ended up well. Maybe this time I would say something odd and they would decide I was a freak. Or I might decide they are simply too dull to be a suitable companion. Or maybe both.

Yeah, socializing is really not my strong suit.

I was jarred from my thoughts when I heard Father say my name.

"…and these are my children, Artemis, Beckett and Myles."

"Nice to meet you," The man said, "My name is Dan. Your father and I went to school together many years ago."

Dan introduced the other members of his party as his wife, Clare, and his daughter, Amy. After he finished, he went of on some other tangent about something Father and him did back when they went to school together. But as I looked around the beach, desperately searching for something more interesting than some prank that two middle-aged men pulled as adolescents, something caught my eye.

That something was Amy.

I don't know what it was that was so special about her. Of course I'd seen many girls before, and I couldn't tell how Amy was any different. From the few sentences I'd heard her say, she was of average intelligence, maybe slightly above but nowhere near me. She had straight, normal-looking brown hair that reached past her elbows with a round, child-like face. I looked at her face and noticed she had light freckles across her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. And then I saw her eyes.

Somehow in those soft, light brown eyes, I saw every color. The light made them sparkle and as I watched the sparkles seemed to dance, igniting her eyes in a beautiful, colorful fire. And I could see happiness in her eyes, too. Happiness and love and….

Oh god. Amy's looking at me. She noticed I was staring at her! I felt my cheeks burn bright red. But what was even more mortifying was what she said next.

"Mom, can Artemis and I go over there by the water?"

"Of course, Amy," Her mother said, with an odd twinkle in her eye.

"C'mon, Artemis!" Amy called, already sprinting towards the water, stopping with only a few feet of dry sand left.

I reluctantly got up and followed her. How was I supposed to talk to her? It would have been one thing just to talk to her before. But for some reason I felt especially drawn to her. And to make matters worse, she caught me staring at her.

When I got to where she was sitting cross-legged, I wasn't sure what to say. Luckily, however, she had something in mind.

"I saw you watching me back there." It was odd the way she said it. She wasn't angry, or upset, or freaked out or anything that I would expect. She looked happy, if a little bit mischievous. I bit my lip and tried not meet her gaze. But when I had decided what to say, I made the mistake of looking up, and noticed that here, with the light reflecting of the water and into her eyes, the sparkles danced even faster, it was amazing like magic and-

I have got to stop letting Amy distract me. I had planned to deny her accusations, say I was looking at a spot behind her, or maybe even that she imagined the whole thing. But now that I had done it again, there was no escape. And she knew it too, I could tell by the impish smile on her face. I sighed.

"Yes, Amy, I was staring at you," I said. I tried to have a bored, uninterested tone, but I failed miserably and ended up with a squeaky, shaky mumble.

"And again over here."

"Yes. What about it?" I asked, my pulse rising. I was not accustomed to this feeling.

"What do you think?" She asked, her tone containing just a hint of irritation. "I want to know why."

By her expression, I could tell she already knew. Or at least she had a theory. I may as well tell her.

"Amy, I…" I broke of mid-sentence, my voice was shaking so bad. "I l-like you," I said, barely above a whisper. What am I doing? I've never felt this way about a girl before, and then suddenly I _like _a girl that I just met today? What's wrong with me?

"Artemis, I like you too," she replies. Her voice is quiet, but it doesn't shake. She seems confident.

"As a friend?" I reply, looking up at her through watery eyes. I am prepared to be disappointed, for her to say that of course we are just friends.

"No. More than that."

I can't believe my ears. Is this really happening? She likes me back! I look over at Amy, and this time I'm not afraid that I'll get lost in her eyes like I did before.

"Look," Amy says, pointing out at the horizon.

I look, and notice that the sunset has produced the most beautiful colors. I look back at her and she is smiling at me. I decide to do something I never dreamed of before.

I lean very slowly towards her, and gently press my lips onto hers. She doesn't break away, instead kissing me back.

Finally we break away.

As we embrace, we look off at the horizon again, and somehow the colors look even more beautiful than they did before.

THE END

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